When is a trip to the dentist not the worst thing ever? When it’s free!
The scene is a grisly one: I lie supine in a brightly lit room while a masked female wielding a wicked-looking metal object instructs me not to move. The area is full of strange instruments and various chemicals, and I can hear the muffled whimper of a child in the other room–for him it must already be too late. As she dons gloves and approaches me, I gulp in anxiety, but she has already attached a sinister device that drains my mouth of saliva and my heart of hope. Before I can scream “Geneva Conventions” she is upon me and begins her twisted procedure.
This is not a scene from the final days of a Gitmo interrogation chamber. I am at the dentist’s office. And in reality, my dramatic introduction could not be farther from the truth: I’m actually having a pretty good time.
Now don’t get me wrong, going to the dentist is at about the same spot on my list of fun things to do as waiting in line at the DMV and filing my taxes, but there is one thing that makes this visit almost pleasant enough to actually be enjoyable: it’s totally free.